This year, we continued on our three year journey of transformation to become the clear choice. We stimulated growth in our business, turned the spotlight back up on our Values and reflected on and communicated our Purpose

KPMG and The Consumer Goods Forum have conducted a study of 539 executives from the consumer goods industry. Top line growth is the key goal for almost everyone in the industry, but what are the most prevalent levers for driving it?

Risk in the Boardroom

In today’s world strategy without risk is no longer strategy.

Whilst the global financial crisis has created significant challenges for business, one positive outcome is boards' desire for greater understanding of integrated risk management. To us, handling strategic risk is not about compliance and box-ticking. It is a critical investment that can underpin an organisation's long-term growth, value and sustainability.

Managing global risk in a complex world:

The world is changing at unprecedented rates. Back in the 1930’s, S&P 500 companies would expect to last seventy five years, i.e. forever. Today, that’s down to fifteen years, and unbelievably in fifteen years time it’s down to five years.

That’s nothing. And that means most S&P 500 companies in fifteen years time will be disappearing and failing, or merging and succeeding. So the boards of our big companies today have to really anticipate why this is happening and make sure their strategy and the way they mitigate risks address these issues, otherwise they’ll fail, which will be terrible, but the successful ones will have unprecedented value for their shareholders. And that’s going to be incredibly exciting.

Boards have got to anticipate where the world is going so, the impacts of the big trends on their business and how they make sure they take full advantage of those trends.

And with that is, they’ve got to take a risk judgment. Do they go into emerging markets, how they deal the different technologies that impact their business, and really think strategically about how to turn risk to advantage, and not treat it as a back office tick box exercise.

What’s clear from the financial crisis is that risks that impact big companies today generally are unexpected but have a very significant impact – so called ‘black swans’.

Now the trick with black swans is not necessarily to anticipate them, to make sure when they happen you deal with them really quickly and effectively. You’ve got your legal, your PR, all those things aligned so that you know what to do when something bad happens.

Best way of planning for that is scenario planning, just like the military did in the cold war, Companies need to do this in this new ‘risk war’ we’re in today. Successful companies anticipate something going bad, and therefore if it does happen, they’re ready to deal with it there and then.

All of this might sound very complex and difficult. Of course it is. But the reality is the most successful companies will navigate their way through this risk jungle and they’ll ultimately succeed way way beyond their competition.

KPMG Risk Consulting works with boards to achieve their objectives by mitigating the key risks they face and working to help achieve long-standing success on behalf of their companies.

We help to align our clients' risk framework with the business strategy, working to protect and enhance business value - reducing risk, cutting costs and improving business performance.

KPMG Slant - The digital crossroads

Technology is the broadest of churches. Virtual, online, cyber; these terms impact on us all as citizens of the internet era. But technology is as much about the industry sector, the components it produces and how they help enhance or protect our online existence as it is about the cyber experience itself. The risks those businesses face - and the funding they require to thrive – should be as important to us as our own online privacy or cyber identity.

KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International") is a Swiss entity. Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International. KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm.